Tag Archives: free album

This is relatively old news, but I completely missed the boat on it when it first came out, and it’s dope, so I’m posting it anyways.

14KT is a producer from Ypsilanti, Michigan. Apparently, the beats on Nowalataz were made as a sort of tribute to Dilla. Here’s 14KT describing it in his own words:

“Here it is… a project I unofficially had done since 2006. It started when James Yancey a.k.a. J Dilla passed that February. To cope with the death of my favorite producer, who I liked to call my unofficial “musical mentor,” I started making ‘donuts’ …uncontrollably. I never planned to release any of the material out of respect for Dilla & his craft. I’ve shared some of the music with others, in which they would repeatedly ask me to hear it, so I decided to put a little something together and make it official. JUST FOR YA’LL.This is a collection of beats created about 3 years ago. Some ‘donuts’ style, some just around that era of 14KT beats. “Now & Laters” were always a favorite candy of mine. I used to go to Mindell’s Pharmacy in Ypsilanti back in the day and buy ALL of them. Sadly, I even stole change from my grandma’s (RIP) purse for them. They are addictive, yet fun to eat… something I found mutual when making music at the time. Ironically, I fell back in love with “Nowalataz” around this era (ask my homey Sarah “Merk Merk,” haha). Enjoy.“

As you might’ve guessed, Nowalataz has a distinctly Dilla vibe to it. Chock full of well-chopped soul samples and hard hitting drums, this LP is a regular slice of Detroit boom-bap goodness.

Much love to Classic Drug References for posting a link to the newest issue of Shook, an excellent new magazine that caters, in their own words, to “beat heads and music junkies.” If you’re a fan of the production aspect of hip-hop – or any break-based music, for that matter – Shook is mos def the mag for you. Check out the free issue and then go out and buy a copy for your library.

Also worth checking out is a free compilation of beats by up-and-coming producer Kameleon. Courtesty of Blind I For The Kids, who describe Kam’s sound as a blend of “sultry soul samples with jazz references and hip-hop,” these beats are mad nice fo’ sho’. Listen to Kingpin below, and then visit Blind I to get your download on.

Taking a page out of the Radiohead playbook and improving on it, Nine Inch Nails superstar Trent Reznor has decided to release the newest album for free on the web. Not backwards, not low quality, not snippets.

The. Full. Album. There are multiple versions to choose from. The audiophiles among you may actually choose to download a 1.2 GB monstrosity of the album in wav form. It’s not compressed so the sound should be nice and crisp.

My favourite part about this whole enterprise is Reznor’s message to his fans.

“(thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years – this one’s on me)”

It’s succinct and appropriate. NIN is releasing a physical copy of this album in July on CD and vinyl. I have a feeling that this album will sell really well. Fans tend to appreciate goodwill gestures like this, and I think the NIN fans will really rally to support the band.

Not to suggest that this is going to be a huge model for changing the industry or anything, but I’m pretty happy about it.

Now, the only catch to this is that they have given away the album as one big track, and…it’s backwards. Completely backwards. I’m not sure if it would work but you could always consider flipping it back around using an audio program like Audacity.

You probably have Dangermouse to thank for this, since downloaders and the internet are really what gave him his big break with The Grey Album.